Former Cheltenham Gold Cup winner Long Run retired | Horse Racing News | Racing Post Long Run: winner of two King Georges and a Gold Cup has been retired PICTURE: Edward Whitaker (racingpost.com/photos) Former Gold Cup winner Long Run retired By Lewis Porteous 5:33PM 20 MAR 2016 LONG RUN, the 2011 Cheltenham Gold Cup winner, was retired after failing to show his old spark on his return from a near two-year absence in a hunter chase at Carlisle on Sunday. Rider Sam Waley-Cohen was also given a controversial seven-day ban for easing up on his beaten star. Connections had mooted a possible tilt at the Crabbie's Grand National had Long Run's comeback from injury gone well but after finishing a tired fifth they called time on his brilliant career. The winner of six Grade 1 races in France and Britain, Long Run will be best remembered for his epic Gold Cup victory against Denman and Kauto Star at the age of six, when trained by Nicky Henderson.

Now 11, the dual-King George winner had been nursed back from a leg injury sustained on the ferry home after his last run in the 2014 Grand Steeple-Chase de Paris by owner-trainer Robert Waley-Cohen. The horse's enthusiasm appeared to remain at Carlisle and he was soon at the head of affairs in the 3m½ contest, in which he was rated at least 11lb superior to any of his eight rivals. However, he lost his lead with a bad mistake at the tenth and hopes of a winning return faded with two more poor jumps at the next two fences. As the Keith Reveley-trained Robbie got the better of 14-year-old Ockey De Neulliac in the last stride, Long Run was a tired horse in behind and surrendered two further places close home as Barachois Silver and Durban Gold relegated him to fifth.

Rider banned Despite the horse appearing weary, the stewards inquired into why the rider had "appeared to stop riding after the final fence on the run to the line" and found him "guilty of failing to take all reasonable and permissible measures to obtain the best possible placing in that he failed to ride out on a horse that could have finished third". Robert Waley-Cohen vowed to appeal the ban, which he described as unfair. He said: "I'll appeal, it is most unfair. I would rather he got a ban than ruin the horse, he did the right thing." 'Wonderful horse' "That's it for Long Run now, we will find something else for him to do," added his owner-trainer. "He's been a wonderful horse, I've had him since he was a three-year-old and he has given us some fantastic moments notably his Gold Cup win and his two King George wins.

"He was a marvellous patient after that injury, but he wasn't the best of hunters, though to be fair to him we were looking after him and it would be different if he were doing it all the time." Long Run retires as the winner of 15 of his 33 races under rules and £1.5 million in prize-money. Long Run goes clear of Denman and Kauto Star in the 2011 Gold Cup PICTURE: Getty Background: Long Run part of a golden era When Long Run burst onto the scene in the waning years of the Kauto Star-Denman era he looked like a ready-made replacement for those superstar chasers. A Grade 1 star in France, Long Run stunned racing on just his fifth run in Britain as he beat Kauto Star in the 2010 King George (actually held in January 2011). He followed up in the Gold Cup, comprehensively beating both Denman and Kauto Star. Aged just six it looked like a new order was being forged but eight months later Long Run was the victim of one of racing's most remarkable comebacks as Kauto Star landed the Betfair Chase and King George.

Long Run bounced back to win a second King George in 2012 and twice finished third in the Gold Cup, but his star never again shone quite as brightly as it did during that remarkable 2010-11 season. Long Run: Cheltenham Gold Cup 2011 winner out for season - BBC Sport BBC Sport Long Run: Cheltenham Gold Cup 2011 winner out for season 18 Jan 2015 From the section Horse Racing Share this page Read more about sharing. Amateur jockey Sam Waley-Cohen rides Long Run for his father The 2011 Cheltenham Gold Cup winner Long Run will miss this season and return to racing in the autumn, says owner Robert Waley-Cohen. A two-time winner of the King George VI Chase, ridden by Waley-Cohen's son Sam for trainer Nicky Henderson, the horse fell in the 2014 Grand National. "Long Run won't be ready to run this season," said the owner on Twitter. "Greatly looking forward to seeing him racing again this autumn.

First won in 2007 but still aged only 10." Long Run was one of the favourites, at 12-1, for last year's National at Aintree but fell at Valentine's Brook. He has been rested since finishing ninth in the Grand Steeplechase de Paris in May, which followed his third in the Punchestown Gold Cup. Long Run: Career record Former Cheltenham Gold Cup winner, Long Run, retires - SportsNewsIRELAND Home / Racing / Racing: Irish Interest / Former Cheltenham Gold Cup winner, Long Run, retires Former Cheltenham Gold Cup winner, Long Run, retires By Breandán Ó hUallacháin Updated: March 21, 2016 Long Run, dual King George VI Chase hero and winner of the Cheltenham Gold Cup, has been retired after finishing fifth in a hunter chase at Carlisle on Sunday The 11-year-old beat the Paul Nicholls-trained pair of Denman and Kauto Star in the blue riband at Cheltenham five years ago for Nicky Henderson.

He went on to win a second King George VI Chase at Kempton the following year and was placed in the next two renewals of the Gold Cup, but he had not been seen in competitive action since failing to fire in the Grand Steeple-Chase de Paris at Auteuil in May 2014. After being sent off the 1-2 favourite on Sunday to see off six rivals in the ApolloBet Bet On Lotteries Open Hunters’ Chase, Long Run made much of the running on his first start for 672 days, but weakened quickly in the straight and owner Robert Waley-Cohen immediately called time on his fantastic career. He said: “I think he’s telling us he’s had enough, so we’ll listen. He won’t run again and will now do something he enjoys.” Waley-Cohen had taken over the training of Long Run since his unsuccessful journey to France – when he suffered various injuries on his way back to Britain – and had hoped to get him qualified for the Foxhunter Chase at Cheltenham. After running out of time, he decided to made the long trip to Carlisle.

Sam Waley-Cohen sent his mount straight to the lead and while he jumped well for much of the three-mile journey, a couple of significant errors led to him coming under pressure. He was a spent force from the home turn as Ockey De Neulliac and Robbie asserted, with the latter eventually winning a thrilling battle. “He’s been a fantastic servant,” Waley-Cohen added. “He’s given everyone so much pleasure and it’s remarkable to think it’s eight years since he won his first Grade One. He’s the only horse to have won a Grade One hurdle at Auteuil as a three-year-old and a Grade One chase at Auteuil as a four-year-old. We’ve had the most enormous fun, but while he looked magnificent in the paddock today, he told us on the track he’s ready to do something different.” Long Run looked sure to finish third after jumping the final fence, but was eased and stopped to a walk on the run-in, being passed by both Barachois Silver and Durban Gold, meaning he beat just one rival home. Sam Waley-Cohen, Long Run’s rider, paid his tribute by saying “He’s been a phenomenal horse who rose to the biggest occasion every time.

He’s been a magic horse and in many ways changed our lives with the fabulous days he’s given us. I might be biased, but I thought his Gold Cup win was one of the great races. Just the way the race panned out with Denman, Kauto Star and Imperial Commander in the race, it was one of those epic battles. He went on to state: “It was a course record as well, which just puts into context how good a horse he was. He also managed to win a Gold Cup with an amateur on his back, so he deserves even more credit!” Nicky Henderson, who trained the horse to his major successes, also paid tribute to the “nicest and kindest” horse. He won four British Grade Ones under the care of Henderson, who said: “We had some fantastic years together and he really is the most lovely horse you could ever wish to meet. Some of these very good horses have cranky characters, but he was the nicest and kindest horse you could ever come across.” The Seven Barrows handler went on: “He won four Grade Ones for us – a Feltham, two King Georges and a Gold Cup. Those are the kind of horses you’d die for.

We knew he was a good horse when he came from France and for him to go and win a Gold Cup was fantastic. Robert has been a great friend since the very early days and Sam obviously rode the horse and was brilliant on him. It was a real family affair and I was very lucky to be part of that family for the duration of the Long Run story.” The winner of four British Grade One races may now be turned to eventing as a new career beckons. 2011 Gold Cup Winner - Long Run | Cheltenham Race Festival RESULT – Cheltenham Gold Cup Chase 3m 2½f 1. Long Run (Sam Waley-Cohen) 7-2 Fav 2. Denman (Sam Thomas) 8-1 3. Kauto Star (Ruby Walsh) 5-1 [hr] Last years winner Imperial Commander came in 5th. Paul Nicholls, trainer of Denman and Kauto Star: “I thought they had it between them at one stage, but Long Run was always going well just behind. They’ve run absolutely amazing races. Kauto travelled great and jumped great and we were always going to be more positive on him.

I always thought Long Run was the best horse in the race but I could not be more proud of my horses.” Cheltenham Gold Cup winner Long Run retires - Horse & Hound Horse & Hound Long Run , winner of the Cheltenham Gold Cup and two King George VI Chases , has been retired from racing aged 11. The gelding is owned by Robert Waley-Cohen and was ridden in the majority of his races by the owner’s son Sam Waley-Cohen. He ran to Gold Cup victory in 2011 under the amateur jockey — fending off the former Paul Nicholls-trained duo Denman and Kauto Star . The decision was made to retire the son of Cadoudal after he finished fifth in a hunter chase at Carlise on Sunday (20 March). It was his comeback run after sustaining an injury on his way back from racing in France in May 2014. “That’s it for Long Run now. We’ll find something else for him to do. He’s been a wonderful horse, I’ve had him since was a three-year-old and he’s given us some fantastic moments,” said Robert.

Long Run was initially aimed at this year’s Cheltenham Foxhunter before a setback in January saw hopes divert towards the Grand National at Aintree. Sunday’s race was considered a trial run ahead of the Liverpool showcase — but his disappointing run prompted connections to call it a day on his illustrious racing career. Article continues below... Under Sam, the French-bred gelding triumphed in two King George VI Chases at Kempton in 2011 and 2012. He amassed 15 victories since starting his career in France in 2008 — including six Grade One contests. His total earnings were in excess of £1.5 million. It has not yet been confirmed what Long Run will be doing during his retirement.

Continued below… Cheltenham Festival 2011: Long Run wins Gold Cup as Sam Waley-Cohen is first amateur to win race in 30 years - Telegraph Cheltenham Festival Cheltenham Festival 2011: Long Run wins Gold Cup as Sam Waley-Cohen is first amateur to win race in 30 years Long Run signalled the new dawn of steeplechasing by winning a thrilling renewal of the totesport Cheltenham Gold Cup to give Nicky Henderson his first success in the race. Pure gold: Long run, ridden by Sam Waley-Cohen, charges to the line to win the 2011 Gold Cup at the Cheltenham Festival Photo: GETTY IMAGES By Jim McGrath 7:25PM GMT 18 Mar 2011 When the gallant mare Dawn Run produced her late turbo thrust to land the 1986 Cheltenham Gold Cup, I never thought I would see a more exciting renewal of steeplechasing’s premier race. I have now.

Yesterday, Long Run and Sam Waley-Cohen, his young amateur partner, won a race that will long be recalled as one of the greatest ever witnessed at Prestbury Park. The sight of the two Paul Nicholls-trained warriors, Denman and Kauto Star, galloping boldly into the long home straight in front of the field before being joined by the King George winner, the relatively inexperienced French-bred Long Run, five years their junior, will never be forgotten. It was to be a magical changing of the guard in a golden era, and a career milestone for trainer Nicky Henderson, who had been forced to wait until the final day of this Festival to register his first winner of the week. Who could ever have doubted that the classy Kauto Star and the brave and determined Denman would rise to this grand occasion, particularly at a meeting at which they have been making headlines for six years? If they were on their way out, they were determined to let the next generation know what a Gold Cup test was all about. Related Articles Nothing can stop McCoy 18 Mar 2011 After a circuit of sitting in behind the leaders in third place, Ruby Walsh angled Kauto Star through a gap and quickly snatched the lead.

Any Gold Cup aspirants were going to have to do it his way. Walsh skilfully tampered with the tempo of the race, which unsettled several of his rivals, but by the time the field had reached the highest point of the course again, the major contenders were queuing up behind Kauto Star, their riders trying desperately not to force the issue too early. Last year’s winner Imperial Commander was one of the first to crack, and news later that he had finished lame was deeply disappointing. As the hulking figure of Denman loomed alongside his stablemate Kauto Star after jumping the third last, all the old rivalries resurfaced. Waley-Cohen had already been squeezed up in behind them, a reminder, if one was needed, that no quarter could be expected against professionals when a Gold Cup was on the line. Denman bravely overpowered his old foe, who occupies the next box to him in the yard at Ditcheat, but then Long Run joined in.

For a few strides, there was a chance the old boys would repel their younger rival, but the old legs and lungs could only do so much, and the Henderson-trained chaser sailed past to for a comfortable victory by seven lengths, in a course record time of 6m 25.9s – 4.3s faster than Looks Like Trouble took to establish the previous record in the Gold Cup 11 years earlier. Nicholls found himself in the position of welcoming the second, third and fourth home, as Denman filled the runner-up spot, four lengths ahead of Kauto Star, with a nose back to their stablemate What A Friend, who flew home for fourth. The trainer was proud of his contingent, who had been foiled by one of the brightest chasing champions ever to come out of France. Clive Smith, Kauto Star’s owner, captured the moment, as he explained that this Gold Cup would most probably be the last contested by his enduring champion. “I feel very sad. This is almost certainly his last Gold Cup, but I have enjoyed every moment of it. He has given us so much pleasure. Paul Barber said of Denman: “There are no excuses to offer.

He was beaten fair and square, but what a race he has run. As for the future, I am not sure. You are a long time retired, and for that reason, he will probably run again. He could go to Liverpool, but I wouldn’t be surprised if he turned up in the Hennessy (a fourth time) next November.” There has never been a more professional approach to race riding and racehorse training in jump racing than in the present era. Styles have been perfected, horses trained adopting modern methods, there is nothing left to chance these days. So, the achievement of owner Robert Waley-Cohen and his amateur-riding son Sam to combine for a Gold Cup win is almost an anachronism. It is 21 years since colleague Marcus Armytage won the Grand National on Mr Frisk, and that remained the biggest amateur riding triumph until Long Run won the King George at Kempton Park in January. Waley-Cohen senior, who is due to take over from Lord Vestey as chairman of Cheltenham after this Festival, confided that there had been pressure in certain quarters to replace his son with a professional jockey, but that was never going to be a starter.

That is what really made this achievement something very special. Cheltenham Gold Cup winner Long Run was the best jumper of 2011 - Telegraph Horse Racing Cheltenham Gold Cup winner Long Run was the best jumper of 2011 The 2011 Flat season is already developing into one of the most exciting in recent memory but on Tuesday, when the British Horseracing Authority announced the Anglo-Irish Jump Classifications, we were briefly reminded that we were no less spoiled last winter. Driving force: Sam Waley-Cohen urges Long Run (centre) up the hill at Cheltenham to win the totesport 2011 Gold Cup Photo: PA By Marcus Armytage 6:37PM BST 24 May 2011 If you were of the opinion that the 2010-11 season marked the changing of the guard after four years of domination by Kauto Star and Denman then you were right, because that view is borne out by Senior Handicapper Phil Smith’s calculations. At the top of the pyramid sits the King George and Cheltenham Gold Cup winner Long Run, with a rating of 182.

However, Denman (177) dropped five pounds during the season and Kauto Star (170) and Imperial Commander (170) plummeted 20lbs and 15lbs down the ratings respectively. In the 12 years of the Classifications Robert Waley-Cohen’s gelding is only the second six year-old chaser, after Master Minded, to achieve a rating of 180, which augurs well for the future given that, all other things being equal, he could go on improving for a couple more years and get near Kauto Star’s best rating of 190. “I don’t get too bogged down in ratings,” said his jockey Sam Waley-Cohen, “but it’s incredibly exciting for the future to think of what he has achieved so young. At the moment he’s getting big and fat in a field at home. He will be so strong next season I wont be able to hold one side of him! It’s a long way off, but there’s a tentative plan to start him off in the Betfair Chase.” From a professional point of view Smith would like to see the horse start off in the Hennessy.

“I’m trying to seduce him because his jockey could claim in the race,” he said. “I’ve implanted the idea and Robert Waley-Cohen is a sportsman, but he’ll make up his own mind.” Related Articles Sam Waley-Cohen: the interview | Sport | The Guardian The Observer Sam Waley-Cohen: the interview At 29, Sam Waley-Cohen is a millionaire businessman – and the first amateur jockey in decades to win racing's most coveted prize. He's even credited with bringing Wills and Kate back together. As the jump season begins, we meet the Gold Cup winner with the Midas touch Sam Waley-Cohen shot at Cheltenham Race Course on 15 October 2011.

“I’m just glad I didn’t start blubbling.” Photograph: Phil Fisk for the Observer Saturday 19 November 2011 19.05 EST First published on Saturday 19 November 2011 19.05 EST Share on Messenger Close Not many Cheltenham Gold Cup winning jockeys will tell you: "There is a real conflict between what the NHS aspires to deliver across the board in healthcare and what it can afford to deliver." But then not many are close friends of William and Kate, run their own chain of dental practices or ride the best steeplechaser in the country – for fun. Sam Waley-Cohen is the last Corinthian: a happy amateur in a world of famished, bird-framed hard men who throw themselves at obstacles on sometimes clumsy horses for a living. Unlike Tony "AP" McCoy, the indomitable dark-eyed champion of the winter game, Waley-Cohen rides his father's majestic champion, Long Run, as a hobby. But this year he proved that he was no longer a novelty act, sharing a weighing room with hardened pros.

In January, he won jump racing's second-most prestigious event, the King George VI Chase, beating a field that included Kauto Star, one of the most successful racehorses of all time. Then, in March, Waley-Cohen became the first amateur for 30 years to win the Gold Cup, jump racing's grandest race. His success thrust him to the forefront of a sport increasingly desperate for publicity. With his father's horse at the head of his breed, the one-off challenge of trying to win at the National Hunt Festival has assumed a new dimension. Waley-Cohen, 29, put Long Run in front. But now he has to keep him there. Other duties crowd his days. One is to preserve his friendship with Prince William and the Duchess of Cambridge, in whose starry tale he is invariably cast as cupid. According to middle-English legend, Waley-Cohen rekindled the royal union at a party at his family's 17th-century mansion in Oxford in June 2007 after the two had agreed a brief separation. The curiosity this vague act of re-matchmaking aroused pursues him still.

"There was one article I was asked to do," he recalls in the café where we meet for breakfast, near his home in Fulham. "It was a Sunday red-top. They spent three hours asking me about racing and one second asking about Will and Kate. They did a two-page piece all about them. That's not really fair. It was a complete stitch-up and you feel embarrassed because you feel you've let them down." Does he receive advice on how to protect the friendship? "Only: 'Don't talk about it,'" he says. "Which is difficult because everyone asks. My greatest concern is that you don't want them to think you're saying things about them for your own benefit, and equally I wouldn't want other people reading them thinking, 'There goes Sam cashing in on that.' "What struck me about the England rugby players in New Zealand [at this autumn's World Cup]," Waley-Cohen continues, "is how incredibly naive they've been. They've gone from being nice Premiership players where nobody gave a rats if they were leathered on the weekend to a stage where everybody cares. In my position, whatever you say can be misconstrued and misinterpreted anyway.

Then you feel like an arse when you read it." Sam Waley-Cohen's life is a compelling weave of privilege, business acumen, personal boldness and sporting prowess. Asked if he was a millionaire, he replied earlier this year: "I think it depends how you calculate it." An incorrigible thrill-seeker in the English upper-class tradition, Waley-Cohen has tried hang-gliding, parachuting, bungee jumping and white-water rafting, and has conquered Mont Blanc and Mount Etna. But Long Run's triumph over the old equine heroes Kauto Star and Denman has altered the agenda. No longer can he present himself as the intrepid part-timer on the young contender. Now there is a title to protect, a pre-eminence to extend – especially as Long Run was only six when he won jump racing's most burnished prize. "Riding in the Gold Cup was never the plan," he tells me. "In a way racing's more fun when you're riding in a point-to-point, when you've been training the horse yourself and teaching it to jump, having a fun Sunday. It's like having a kickaround in the park.

Then someone says: 'You're playing at Wembley next week.' And you think: 'How did that just change?' "It's a totally different dynamic because when you're trying to win there are all sorts of obstacles and reasons why it's not going to happen. He was too young, I was an amateur, you'd got Kauto Star and Denman. So, really, you're going out there to throw the challenge down. You never really had more than the hope. Once you've won it there's the expectation that you'll keep on doing it. "But on any given day, whatever level you're at – whether it's a point-to-point or the Gold Cup – you're trying to get the horse to the edge of what it's capable of doing. And on any given day it can go wrong. It doesn't mean the horse is wrong or the jockey's cocked it up. You might just meet the fence wrong or a horse may fall in front of you and bring you down, or the ground may be wrong. It just doesn't go right. So there's an element of fatalism in my own mind." The Waley-Cohens are a formidable bunch.

Bernard, Sam's grandfather, was mayor of London and was instrumental in the development of Israel. His father, Robert, who bought Long Run at great cost in France, is now chairman of Cheltenham racecourse. Each year, the members' badges are in the colours of whoever wins the Gold Cup, so that this year they're brown and orange. "It's almost like a Waley-Cohen takeover," Sam says. On Long Run's saddle are engraved the initials of his brother, Thomas, who died from cancer at 20. In his best moments on Long Run he thinks: "Thomas would have loved this." A charity set up to help students raise money for good causes bears his name. "There are a lot of student charities that want to run charity events at university, but can't get the seed money. They want to run a comedy evening, but can't get the money to secure the venue. So with the TAWC Fund we help with the start-up costs and provide a mentor. I'm now a trustee at the Injured Jockeys Fund, president of the Thoroughbred Breeders' Association's next generation club and patron of a cancer charity. It's hard to say no.

I also have a wife who it would be nice to see." Waley-Cohen married Annabel Ballin, who runs a children's party business, in June; among the guests were Princess Beatrice and Kate and Pippa Middleton. "Last night I got back late, we had a quick supper together, I was tapping away on my computer, Bella was watching telly. I was thinking: this is not going to last very long before I get myself in trouble." In conversation, though, he switches easily into business and political mode, pushing the Turf aside to explain the thinking behind his firm, Portman Healthcare, which has 11 practices. "Lots of people in dentistry were in a very comfortable position – the clinicians – so it wasn't enormously competitive. People could sit back a little bit on their laurels and say, 'People keep coming through the door and I'm making a decent living.' "We applied a different ethos. We thought: we're lucky this patient coming through the door has chosen us, we've got to really look after them. We're not going to accept that the waiting room is a bit tatty. It's not good enough that the phone goes to voicemail.

So the idea was to bring a bit of urgency to it. There's an opportunity to create a significant company that might shape the face of British dentistry." This cannot pass unchallenged. His company, I remind him, presupposes an ability to pay. He jumps the fence cleverly: "What I never understood was how expensive dentistry is to deliver. You've got a clinician who's trained for five or six years. You've got at least one nurse, often two. You've got all the equipment – it costs about £50,000 to kit out a surgery. Then you've got a receptionist and practice manager and all the materials. "You don't get on the NHS in dentistry what you get privately. They'll fix you up, but more often the wheels will fall off before they fix it. In private dentistry it's a bit like taking the car for a service and saying: 'If there's something wrong let's put it right now.'" In corporate mode, the athlete in him ceases to be visible, but his recollection of the day last March when Long Run thundered up the Cheltenham hill brings his gladiatorial side back.

Some among the Turf's cognoscenti mumbled that Waley-Cohen was being indulged by his father and should not be riding National Hunt racing's best young horse in the sport's defining event. For the first circuit, the cynics probably felt justified. "There was definitely a point where he was making a mistake," he says, "and I was thinking, 'Whoops!' Then another and, 'WHOOPS!' It was crap. I was thinking, 'I hope he isn't going to do that the whole way.' You can't win taking the top four inches off." Waley-Cohen restored the horse's rhythm with professional aplomb. "He has so much quality it never really slowed him down. You watch the replay and think, 'That was a bit of a mess', but actually he didn't really lose any momentum. He just ploughed and carried on galloping." Does he think he could ever recapture that feeling? "It would certainly feel different if we did it again. You don't take it in. Everyone's grabbing you and it's all excitement. Sometimes you look like you're not that emotional, because somewhere deep inside yourself you've prepared yourself for the worst.

Also you've got to get the horse back and make sure he's all right tomorrow. I'm just glad that I didn't start blubbing. "What was so nice about last year," he continues, "was that everyone was behind us. There could have been lots of snippy comments about 'the amateur'. People felt ownership of Long Run – they felt part of his story – and they enjoyed seeing him take on the older horses. It was a proper changing of the order. Boom. One chapter closed, another one opens." Boom once more. Life changed: "You're asked to do lots of things. Racing's given me lots and I want to make sure I give something back. I'm not very good at saying no to things. A TV channel says, 'Can we come down for a couple of hours?' and it ends up being three days." Happily he seems blessed with a natural optimism ("People said, if Sam can do it, you just need a good horse and off you go. It gives everyone hope.") Like all National Hunt folk, he sees the glory and the absurdity of his passion. "I was saying to someone the other day: it's a madman's game.

You have to be an absolute lunatic to go into jump racing. It's a field of broken hearts more than dreams." Long Run gives amateur Sam Waley-Cohen a 'big day' in Gold Cup | Paul Hayward | Sport | The Guardian Close This article is 5 years old Free with his time throughout the build-up, Mr S Waley-Cohen appeared on Channel 4's The Morning Line before the Gold Cup and was asked: "Is this the biggest day of your life?" A smile crept across the face of Long Run's amateur rider. "I wouldn't say that," he said. "It's a big day, but not the biggest of my life." Seven hours later, Sam Waley-Cohen, 28, found himself tucked in behind the two great champions of recent steeplechasing history, Kauto Star and Denman, as the trio turned for home in a race that will be remembered for a kind of perfect symmetry. The two equine luminaries were passed by the new horse on the Cotswold block – the youngest Gold Cup Champion since Mill House in 1963, and the first to be ridden by a part-timer since Little Owl and Jim Wilson in 1981.

The beauty of this contest lay not only in Long Run's graduation but the grandeur of Kauto Star and Denman in defeat. This was not a smashing of the old order, but a dignified and thrilling exhibition of Long Run's youth and energy, even if Imperial Commander, the defending champion, pulled up lame. In the saddle, Waley-Cohen proved a young sportsman can thrive in this forbidding arena without having to sign his whole life away to the weighing room. It was not the biggest day of his life, and that is what made it special. Even in the media conference afterwards, he kept one eye on a television screen showing the next race, the Foxhunter Chase. Life was moving on already. Soon Waley-Cohen will be back at the day job, fielding the 150 emails he receives each day as the head of Portman Healthcare, a firm he set up to revolutionise dentistry. On Sunday in an interview for the Observer, Waley-Cohen said: "Ultimately it's about doing it for fun. Not making your living out of if it. It doesn't mean being amateur in the sense of amateurish. There isn't really any space for amateurism in any sport any more.

So you have to take a professional approach even if you're doing it for the fun. Doing it because that's what you want to do; getting out of bed thinking, 'Why not?' That's a cracking way to spend your time, as opposed to thinking, my percentage is X amount." He thinks about this a lot. He has to because people keep asking him about Corinthianism. In this golden age for jump jockeys he was up against a mobile hall of fame: AP McCoy, Ruby Walsh, Richard Johnson and Robert Thornton, for starters. In the race no special privileges were extended to the gentleman rider. On the contrary, the hardened pros appeared intent on spooking him into submission. "He gave the horse a beautiful ride and a brave ride," said Long Run's trainer, Nicky Henderson. For it was no procession. A radiant beast, the new champion clouted two fences on the first circuit and had Waley-Cohen worried before the pair regained their poise to hunt the two Paul Nicholls-trained warriors down the hill and into the straight. "It's surreal sitting here. You can barely believe it," Waley-Cohen said.

"Several times I thought, 'This is not how I imagined this going.' I didn't know whether I was coming or going at some of the fences. You go into them and throw everything at them, your heart, your soul and your guts. "Everyone from the point-to-point and amateur worlds has been so generous. There has been such an upswell of goodwill and I could almost feel them willing me on. Not many amateurs have been lucky enough to have a go in this race. It came down to stamina, not speed, and Long Run had the courage and youth to get up that hill. It was do or die at some of those fences. You'll be eating grass if you don't pick up." In the final surge there was little to distinguish Waley-Cohen from Sam Thomas (Denman) or Walsh (Kauto Star), except perhaps slightly less rhythm and a touch more stiffness as he drove Long Run towards the wall of noise. On his saddle were the initials of his late brother, Thomas Waley-Cohen, who lost his life to cancer, aged 20.

"It's a great family event, and Thomas would have been very much here," Sam said, not wanting to delve too deeply into the family's emotions during this part private, but mainly public spectacle. This was an object lesson in how to handle a big moment, a precious opportunity. Waley-Cohen worked hard in the gym, rode work at dawn, studied the tapes and made himself available to all those in the media fascinated by his adventure. The pair won the rescheduled King George VI Chase at Kempton, spoiling Kauto Star's script, but this was on another scale, especially as Long Run hardly ever jumps steeplechase fences at home and is schooled indoors. A committed thrill-seeker who escapes the stresses of business life by climbing mountains or piloting helicopters, Waley-Cohen is cool in the face of physical pressure, as if he knows none of it really matters anyway, and can only be spoiled by taking it too seriously. "Racing is poetry. It has jealousy and ego and greed and compassion – and loyalty and glory," he said in the Observer.

"It encapsulates life from victory to defeat, and life and death, all those things, and yet when you step back from it you can't take it to a point where there's no return." This is not the usual post-race testimony. Normally, the winning jockey is a bony addict with the narrow vocabulary of obsession. Waley-Cohen liked where the Gold Cup took him but he has plenty of other worlds to inhabit. "It's rough out there," he said. "The Gold Cup is a war. A brotherly war, but nonetheless a war, where there's no quarter given." No quarter given, and none asked.

BBC Sport - Horse Racing - Cheltenham: Long Run stars to secure Gold Cup glory Cheltenham: Long Run stars to secure Gold Cup glory CHELTENHAM FESTIVAL Tue 15-Fri 18 March Coverage: BBC Radio 5 live Fri 1300-1600, Channel 4 TV/Racing UK; reports/results: BBC Sport website Twitter: Updates from BBC's Cornelius Lysaght and Honest Frank It was a historic win for Long Run and jockey Sam Waley-Cohen Long Run justified his billing as 7-2 favourite by winning the Cheltenham Gold Cup with a superb display. The win meant Sam Waley-Cohen, son of owner Robert, become the first amateur jockey in 30 years to win the race. Long Run, trained by Nicky Henderson, won January's King George VI Chase but the six-year-old had struggled at Cheltenham on previous visits. But he made no mistake this time around to beat previous winners Denman (8-1) and Kauto Star (5-1).

Defending champion Imperial Commander, who was out of contention a long way from home before being pulled up, was later found to have burst a blood vessel. Kauto Star took the race a long way out and with three fences to go was fighting it out with stablemate and fellow 11-year-old Denman. But Waley-Cohen had Long Run well positioned and they looked dangerous at the top of the hill and loomed alongside the Nicholls duo with two fences to go and his younger legs were able to get him clear from the last and up the Cheltenham hill for a famous win. The French-bred horse becomes the youngest Gold Cup winner since Mill House in 1963. "That's a very special feeling and he's a very special horse," said the jockey. "He's a whole lot better than I thought he was. "I want to say thank you to everyone for believing in me and the horse. "This is beyond my wildest dreams. I didn't think we were going to get there, but he picked up, and I think he still had a bit left. "When he got there he saw the crowd and he wanted to stop and have a look.

What a horse he is." It was a first Gold Cup win - and a 39th Festival success for Henderson, who is the all-time leading trainer at the meeting. Waley-Cohen delighted with Gold Cup success "It's sort of nice it's over, to be honest. It was a great race, that's the thing," he said. "Sam gave him a beautiful ride. There was just a moment when I thought he needed a bit of daylight going down the hill, but he was very confident and he was very professional." "All credit to Sam, this is not exactly his day job, but he never panicked. "The big horses were all there and he had to get through them, and he did. It was a wonderful ride. It was a great race because all the horses have run great races - there's no disputing it. "This horse is still only six, so there is a lot to look forward to with him yet. "Kauto Star was probably at his best today, but Long Run is a very good young horse." It was a second win of the day for Henderson after Bobs Worth and Barry Geraghty edged out stablemate Mossley in the Albert Bartlett Novices' Hurdle.

Nicky Henderson and Barry Geraghty celebrate Bobs Worth's win Paul Nicholls was full of praise for Zarkandar who maintained his unbeaten record over timber in the JCB Triumph Hurdle. In only his second run over hurdles after an impressive debut at Kempton, the 13-2 chance, ridden by Daryl Jacob, ran out an impressive two-and-a-quarter-length winner from the Irish filly Unaccompanied. "Given the summer to strengthen up, he really could be anything. I've no doubts he could be a Champion Hurdle horse," said the Ditcheat handler. "I was astounded with how he won at Kempton. "He'd been going well at home but he'd been gelded and had taken a while to get over that. "I just thought he might run well at Kempton, finish third or fourth, and then we'd put him away for the summer. "But he's improved a massive amount from that run. Today he's travelled supremely and jumped.

He picked them up the minute he wanted to and he's our little Hurricane Fly." There was disappointment for amateur jockey Willy Twiston-Davies when he was unseated by the well-fancied Baby Run in the Christie's Foxhunter Chase two from home when well clear. It handed the initiative to Derek O'Connor on the Zemsky (33-1) who went on to claim his second winner of the week. Meanwhile, Ruby Walsh and Willie Mullins finished as top jockey and trainer respectively after final-day success. The pair combined on the 10-1 chance Final Approach in the Vincent O'Brien County Hurdle, edging out Tony McCoy and Get Me Out of Here in a dramatic photo-finish. It gave Walsh his fifth win of the week while Mullins later claimed his fourth win of the meeting when the 9-2 favourite Sir Des Champs put in a late charge to win the Martin Pipe Conditional Jockeys' Handicap Hurdle. Jockey Emmet Mullins, the nephew of Willie Mullins, kept the five-year-old in the rear but made steady progress late on to chase down Donald McCain's Son Of Flicka to win by half a length.

It followed the earlier wins for Hurricane Fly (Champion Hurdle) and Quevega (David Nicholson Mare's Hurdle) and saw him pip Paul Nicholls for the honour. Bookmark with:

Question: Which Sam rode the winner of the 2011 Cheltenham Gold Cup, Long Run?
Answer: Sam Waley Cohen